Skip to content

Romance, in its earliest surviving form, was called…

“Romance, in its earliest surviving form, was called ‘erotika pathemata’ by the Greeks - tales of erotic suffering.” quote by Marina Warner — Download Open image

“Romance, in its earliest surviving form, was called ‘erotika pathemata’ by the Greeks - tales of erotic suffering.”

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Romance originated as stories of erotic suffering in ancient Greek literature, highlighting love’s painful intensity.

In simple terms: Early romance = erotic suffering stories.

Key Takeaway

Recognize love’s complex pain.

Themes

love pain history

Mood

reflective thoughtful

Type

literary historical

When to use this quote

literary analysis
relationship counseling
creative writing

Key Concepts

Greek literature erotika pathemata

Questions to Reflect On

How does pain shape love?
Can modern romance learn from ancient views?

A Different Perspective

Romantic idealization can ignore suffering.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

Erotic Romance Suffering Surviving Tales

More by Marina Warner

“Ectoplasm is shapeless, it is “informe,” a kind of primordial paste—and to show itself as this, it annexes semiotic markers that designate intermediate spirit…

I am not a great believer in dialectical struggle. I am much more of a fusion person. I see it as a dialogue, or…

I was brought up a Catholic and I was quite fervent, because I was sent to a convent school.

The female form provides the solution in which the essence itself is held; she is passio, and acted upon, the male is actio, the…

Love can make you turn on yourself, and it can do harmful things to you. It's a deep lesson in human psychology, as with…

There is a theory, that I rather subscribe to. The frame story implies that if he doesn't change, she will kill him. It's all…

Creating simplicity often makes the heart leap; order has been restored, the crooked made straight. But order is understanding that things cannot be made…

I avoid looking in the mirror.

The other thing about the Nights is that it is quite racist. One parentheses is that I think this is one of the negative…

The tales are quite hard to remember and I found that going back to it between bouts of writing fiction, I was having to…

One of the metaphors of the book is the carpet. Not just the flying carpet, but the carpet as a woven surface in which…

The more one knows fairy tales the less fantastical they appear; they can be vehicles of the grimmest realism, expressing hope against all the…

If you want to learn about a culture, you look at what buildings the people lived in but you also want to know about…

I love titles and organizing chains of ideas. I like that very much.

For example, John Law's Mississippi Company venture printed shares, and the money had gone up in smoke when it had been inscribed objects. The…

Explore all 62 Marina Warner quotes

More Erotic quotes

Shared laughter is erotic too.

The truly erotic sensibility, in evoking the image of woman, never omits to clothe it. The robing and disrobing: that is the true traffic…

Antonio Machado

The erotic and the art historical imagination is something that gets very little play when people talk about my work, and when they rarely…

“I’m not going to deny that I want to fuck you. I can’t promise a future or that I’ll be some sniveling boyfriend who…

The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese. That, in erotic terms, is the Catholic church, in a…

I want to engage people in an honest, enlightened, and provocative conversation about the nature of erotic desire and the intricacies of intimacy and…

Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken.

Terry Pratchett

“Right, I can't watch this shit." Kacey grunted as he got up. "It's one thing getting a hard-on over you, baby girl. The fact…

Elizabeth Morgan

When a lady's erotic life is vexed God knows what God is coming next.

The greatest sex toy ever invented may be the telephone. Sometimes there's nothing more erotic than a disembodied voice, no question more tantalizing than…

“He props his elbow on the table, absently scratches his temple with his index finger, and I remember exactly what that index finger did…

It's flabbergasting. I can understand if you have your legs spread and you're pushing yourself into the camera - that's sexually erotic. But the…

Helena Christensen

“Right on the edge of fear was where trust could grow.”

Cherise Sinclair

“Move your hands, Morgan,” he commanded. “It hurts!” she protested. “It’s supposed to.”

Cara Bristol

As her sons have seen her: the mother in patriarchy: controlling, erotic, castrating, heart-suffering, guilt-ridden, and guilt-provoking; a marble brow, a huge breast, an…

Browse all 542 Erotic quotes

More Erotic Quotes by Authors: